The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the
United Kingdom (
UK) or
Britain, is a
sovereign state in
Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the
European mainland, the country includes the island of
Great Britain—a term also applied loosely to refer to the whole country—the north-eastern part of the island of
Ireland and many smaller islands.
[8] Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares
a land border with another state (the
Republic of Ireland).
[nb 5] Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean to its west and north, the
North Sea to its east and the
English Channel to its south. The
Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. The UK has an area of 93,800 square miles (243,000 km
2), making it the
80th-largest sovereign state in the world and the
11th-largest in Europe.
The United Kingdom is the
22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 64.1 million inhabitants.
[3] It is a
constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary system of governance.
[9][10] Its
capital city is
London, an important
global city and
financial centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the fourth-largest in Europe and
second-largest in the European Union.
[11] The current
monarch—since 6 February 1952—is
Queen Elizabeth II. The UK consists of
four countries:
England,
Scotland,
Wales, and
Northern Ireland.
[12] The latter three have
devolved administrations,
[13] each with varying powers,
[14][15] based in their capitals,
Edinburgh,
Cardiff, and
Belfast, respectively.
Guernsey,
Jersey, and the
Isle of Man are not part of the United Kingdom, being
Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.
[16]
The relationships among the countries of the United Kingdom have
changed over time.
Wales was annexed by the
Kingdom of England under the
Acts of Union of 1536 and 1543.
A treaty between England and
Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified
Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the
Kingdom of Ireland to form the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the country, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
[nb 6] The UK has
fourteen Overseas Territories.
[17] These are the remnants of the
British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land mass and was the
largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the
language,
culture, and
legal systems of many of
its former colonies.
The United Kingdom is a
developed country and has the world's
sixth-largest economy by nominal
GDP and
either eighth, ninth or tenth-largest by
purchasing power parity. The UK is considered to have a
high-income economy and is categorised as very high in the
Human Development Index, currently ranking
14th in the world. It was the world's first
industrialised country and the world's foremost
power during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
[18][19] The UK remains a
great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific, and political
influence internationally.
[20][21] It is a
recognised nuclear weapons state and its
military expenditure ranks fifth or sixth in the world.
[22][23] The UK has been a
permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a
member state of the
European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the
European Economic Community (EEC), since 1973; it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the
Council of Europe, the
G7, the
G8, the
G20,
NATO, the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
Etymology and terminology
The
1707 Acts of Union declared that the kingdoms of
England and
Scotland were "United into One Kingdom by the Name of
Great Britain", though the new state is also referred to in the Acts as the "Kingdom of Great Britain", "United Kingdom of Great Britain" and "United Kingdom".
[24][25][nb 7] However, the term "united kingdom" is only found in informal use during the 18th century and the country was only occasionally referred to as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain" — its full official name, from 1707 to 1800, being merely
Great Britain, without a "long form".
[26][27][28][29][30] The
Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the
Kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" was adopted following the independence of the
Irish Free State, and the
partition of Ireland, in 1922, which left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland within the UK.
[31]
Although the United Kingdom, as a sovereign state, is a country, England, Scotland, Wales, and to a lesser degree, Northern Ireland, are also regarded as
countries, though they are not sovereign states.
[32][33] Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government.
[34][35] The British Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom.
[12] Some statistical summaries, such as those for the twelve
NUTS 1 regions of the UK, also refer to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as "regions".
[36][37] Northern Ireland is also referred to as a "province".
[32][38] With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice often revealing one's political preferences."
[39]
The term
Britain is often used as synonym for the United Kingdom. The term
Great Britain, by contrast, refers conventionally to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination.
[40][41][42] However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole.
[43][44] GB and
GBR are the
standard country codes for the United Kingdom (see
ISO 3166-2 and
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3) and are consequently used by international organisations to refer to the United Kingdom. Additionally, the United Kingdom's Olympic team competes under the name "Great Britain" or "Team GB".
[45][46]
The adjective
British is commonly used to refer to matters relating to the United Kingdom. The term has no definite legal connotation, but is used in law to refer to UK citizenship and
matters to do with nationality.
[47] People of the United Kingdom use a number of different terms to describe their national identity and may identify themselves as being
British; or as being
English,
Scottish,
Welsh,
Northern Irish, or
Irish;
[48] or as being both.
[49]
In 2006, a new design of
British passport was introduced. Its first page shows the long form name of the state in English,
Welsh and
Scottish Gaelic.
[50] In Welsh, the long form name of the state is "Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon" with "Teyrnas Unedig" being used as a short form name on government websites.
[51] (However it is usually abbreviated to "DU" for the mutated form "Y Deyrnas Unedig".) In Scottish Gaelic, the long form is "Rìoghachd Aonaichte Bhreatainn is Èireann a Tuath" and the short form "Rìoghachd Aonaichte".
History
Before 1707
Settlement by
anatomically modern humans of what was to become the United Kingdom occurred
in waves beginning by about 30,000 years ago.
[52] By the end of the
region's prehistoric period, the population is thought to have belonged, in the main, to a culture termed
Insular Celtic, comprising
Brythonic Britain and
Gaelic Ireland.
[53] The
Roman conquest, beginning in 43 AD, and the 400-year
rule of southern Britain, was followed by an invasion by
Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers, reducing the Brythonic area
mainly to what was to become Wales and the historic
Kingdom of Strathclyde.
[54] Most of the
region settled by the Anglo-Saxons became unified as the
Kingdom of England in the 10th century.
[55] Meanwhile,
Gaelic-speakers in north west Britain (with connections to the north-east of Ireland and traditionally supposed to have migrated from there in the 5th century)
[56][57] united with the
Picts to create the
Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century.
[58]
In 1066, the
Normans invaded England from France and after
its conquest, seized
large parts of Wales,
conquered much of Ireland and were invited to
settle in Scotland, bringing to each country
feudalism on the Northern French model and
Norman-French culture.
[59] The
Norman elites greatly influenced, but eventually assimilated with, each of the local cultures.
[60] Subsequent
medieval English kings completed the
conquest of Wales and made an unsuccessful
attempt to annex Scotland. Following the
Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland maintained its independence, albeit in
near-constant conflict with England. The English monarchs, through inheritance of
substantial territories in France and claims to the French crown, were also heavily involved in conflicts in France, most notably the
Hundred Years War, while the
Kings of Scots were in
an alliance with the French during this period.
[61]
The
early modern period saw religious conflict resulting from the
Reformation and the introduction of
Protestant state churches in each country.
[62] Wales was
fully incorporated into the Kingdom of England,
[63] and Ireland was constituted as a kingdom in personal union with the English crown.
[64] In what was to become Northern Ireland, the lands of the independent Catholic Gaelic nobility were confiscated and
given to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland.
[65]
In 1603, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in a
personal union when
James VI, King of Scots, inherited the crowns of England and Ireland and moved his court from Edinburgh to London; each country nevertheless remained a separate political entity and retained its separate political, legal, and religious institutions.
[66][67]
In the mid-17th century, all three kingdoms
were involved in a series of connected wars (including the
English Civil War) which led to the temporary overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the short-lived
unitary republic of the
Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
[68][69]
Although the monarchy was restored, it ensured (with the
Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the subsequent
Bill of Rights 1689, and the
Claim of Right Act 1689) that, unlike much of the rest of Europe,
royal absolutism would not prevail, and a professed Catholic could never accede to the throne. The
British constitution would develop on the basis of
constitutional monarchy and the
parliamentary system.
[70] With the constitutional rights of Parliament legally established, no monarch has since entered the
House of Commons when it is sitting
meeting, which is annually commemorated at the
State Opening of Parliament by the British monarch when the doors of the House of Commons are slammed in the face of the monarch's messenger, symbolising the rights of Parliament and its independence from the monarch.
[71][72] With the founding of the
Royal Society in 1660, science was greatly encouraged. During this period, particularly in England, the development of
naval power (and the interest in
voyages of discovery) led to the acquisition and settlement of
overseas colonies, particularly in North America.
[73][74]
Since the Acts of Union of 1707
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
On 1 May 1707, the united
Kingdom of Great Britain came into being, the result of
Acts of Union being passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland to ratify the 1706
Treaty of Union and so unite the two kingdoms.
[75][76][77]
In the 18th century, cabinet government developed under
Robert Walpole, in practice the first prime minister (1721–1742). A series of
Jacobite Uprisings sought to remove the Protestant
House of Hanover from the British throne and restore the Catholic
House of Stuart. The Jacobites were finally defeated at the
Battle of Culloden in 1746, after which the
Scottish Highlanders were brutally suppressed. The British colonies in North America that broke away from Britain in the
American War of Independence became the United States of America in 1783. British imperial ambition turned elsewhere, particularly to
India.
[78]
During the 18th century, Britain was involved in the
Atlantic slave trade. British
ships transported an estimated 2 million slaves from Africa to the West Indies before banning the trade in 1807 and taking a leading role in the movement to abolish slavery worldwide by pressing other nations to end their trade with a series of treaties, and then formed the world's oldest international human rights organisation,
Anti-Slavery International, in London in 1839.
[79][80][81] The term 'United Kingdom' became official in 1801 when the parliaments of Britain and Ireland each passed an
Act of Union, uniting the two kingdoms and creating the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
[82]
In the early 19th century, the British-led
Industrial Revolution began to transform the country. It slowly led to a shift in political power away from the old
Tory and
Whig landowning classes towards the new industrialists. An alliance of merchants and industrialists with the
Whigs would lead to a new party, the
Liberals, with an ideology of
free trade and
laissez-faire. In 1832 Parliament passed the
Great Reform Act, which began the transfer of political power from the aristocracy to the middle classes. In the countryside,
enclosure of the land was driving small farmers out. Towns and cities began to swell with a new urban working class. Few ordinary workers had the vote, and they created their own organisations in the form of
trade unions.
After the defeat of France in the
Revolutionary and
Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815), the UK emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century (with London the largest city in the world from about 1830).
[83] Unchallenged at sea, British dominance was later described as
Pax Britannica.
[84][85] By the time of
the Great Exhibition of 1851, Britain was described as the "workshop of the world".
[86] The British Empire was expanded to include
India, large
parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, British dominance of much of world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and
Siam.
[87][88] Domestically, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies and a gradual widening of the voting franchise. During the century, the population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses.
[89] After 1875, the UK's industrial monopoly was challenged by Germany and the USA. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the
Conservative Party under
Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa and elsewhere.
Canada,
Australia and
New Zealand became self-governing dominions.
[90]
Social reform and home rule for Ireland were important domestic issues after 1900. The
Labour Party emerged from an alliance of trade unions and small Socialist groups in 1900, and
suffragettes campaigned for women's right to vote before 1914.
The UK fought with France, Russia and (after 1917) the US, against Germany and its allies in
World War I (1914–18).
[91] The UK armed forces were engaged across much of the British Empire and in several regions of Europe, particularly on the
Western front.
[92] The high fatalities of trench warfare caused the loss of much of a generation of men, with lasting social effects in the nation and a great disruption in the social order.
After the war, the UK received the
League of Nations mandate over a number of former German and
Ottoman colonies. The British Empire reached its greatest extent, covering a fifth of the world's land surface and a quarter of its population.
[93] However, the UK had suffered 2.5 million casualties and finished the war with a huge national debt.
[92] The rise of
Irish Nationalism and disputes within Ireland over the terms of
Irish Home Rule led eventually to the
partition of the island in 1921,
[94] and the
Irish Free State became independent with
Dominion status in 1922.
Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom.
[95] A wave of strikes in the mid-1920s culminated in the
UK General Strike of 1926. The UK had still not recovered from the effects of the war when the
Great Depression (1929–32) occurred. This led to considerable unemployment and hardship in the old industrial areas, as well as political and social unrest in the 1930s. A coalition government was formed in 1931.
[96]
The UK entered
World War II by declaring war on
Germany in 1939, after it had invaded
Poland and
Czechoslovakia. In 1940,
Winston Churchill became prime minister and head of a coalition government. Despite the defeat of its European allies in the first year of the war, the UK continued the fight alone against Germany. In 1940, the
RAF defeated the German
Luftwaffe in a struggle for control of the skies in the
Battle of Britain. The UK suffered heavy bombing during
the Blitz. There were also eventual hard-fought victories in the
Battle of the Atlantic, the
North Africa campaign and
Burma campaign. UK forces played an important role in the
Normandy landings of 1944, achieved with its ally the US. After Germany's defeat, the UK was one of the
Big Three powers who met to plan the post-war world; it was an original signatory to the
Declaration of the United Nations. The UK became one of the five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council. However, the war left the UK severely weakened and depending financially on
Marshall Aid and loans from the United States.
[97]
In the immediate post-war years, the
Labour government initiated a radical programme of reforms, which had a significant effect on British society in the following decades.
[98] Major industries and public utilities were
nationalised, a
Welfare State was established, and a comprehensive, publicly funded healthcare system, the
National Health Service, was created.
[99] The rise of nationalism in the colonies coincided with Britain's now much-diminished economic position, so that a policy of
decolonisation was unavoidable. Independence was granted to
India and
Pakistan in 1947.
[100] Over the next three decades, most colonies of the British Empire gained their independence. Many became members of the
Commonwealth of Nations.
[101]
Although the UK was the third country to develop
a nuclear weapons arsenal (with its
first atomic bomb test in 1952), the new post-war limits of Britain's international role were illustrated by the
Suez Crisis of 1956. The international spread of the English language ensured the continuing international influence of its
literature and
culture. From the 1960s onward, its
popular culture was also influential abroad. As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s, the UK government encouraged
immigration from
Commonwealth countries. In the following decades, the UK became a multi-ethnic society.
[102] Despite rising living standards in the late 1950s and 1960s, the UK's economic performance was not as successful as many of its competitors, such as West Germany and Japan. In 1973, the UK joined the
European Economic Community (EEC), and when the EEC became the
European Union (EU) in 1992, it was one of the 12 founding members.
From the late 1960s, Northern Ireland suffered communal and paramilitary violence (sometimes affecting other parts of the UK) conventionally known as
the Troubles. It is usually considered to have ended with the
Belfast "Good Friday" Agreement of 1998.
[104][105][106]
Following a period of widespread economic slowdown and industrial strife in the 1970s, the
Conservative Government of the 1980s initiated a radical policy of
monetarism, deregulation, particularly of the financial sector (for example,
Big Bang in 1986) and labour markets, the sale of state-owned companies (
privatisation), and the withdrawal of subsidies to others.
[107] This resulted in high unemployment and social unrest, but ultimately also economic growth, particularly in the services sector. From 1984, the economy was helped by the inflow of substantial
North Sea oil revenues.
[108]
Around the end of the 20th century there were major changes to the governance of the UK with the establishment of
devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
[13][109] The
statutory incorporation followed acceptance of the
European Convention on Human Rights. The UK is still a key global player diplomatically and militarily. It plays leading roles in the EU, UN and NATO. However, controversy surrounds some of Britain's overseas
military deployments, particularly in
Afghanistan and
Iraq.
[110]
The
2008 global financial crisis severely affected the UK economy. The
coalition government of 2010 introduced austerity measures intended to tackle the substantial public deficits which resulted.
[111] In 2014 the
Scottish Government held a
referendum on Scottish independence, with 55% of voters rejecting the independence proposal and opting to remain within the United Kingdom.
[112]
Geography
The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 243,610 square kilometres (94,060 sq mi). The country occupies the major part of the
British Isles[113] archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and some smaller surrounding islands. It lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea with the south-east coast coming within 22 miles (35 km) of the coast of northern France, from which it is separated by the
English Channel.
[114] In 1993 10% of the UK was forested, 46% used for pastures and 25% cultivated for agriculture.
[115] The
Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is the defining point of the
Prime Meridian.
[116]
The United Kingdom lies between latitudes
49° to
61° N, and longitudes
9° W to
2° E. Northern Ireland shares a 224-mile (360 km) land boundary with the Republic of Ireland.
[114] The coastline of Great Britain is 11,073 miles (17,820 km) long.
[117] It is connected to
continental Europe by the
Channel Tunnel, which at 31 miles (50 km) (24 miles (38 km) underwater) is the longest underwater tunnel in the world.
[118]
England accounts for just over half of the total area of the UK, covering 130,395 square kilometres (50,350 sq mi).
[119] Most of the country consists of lowland terrain,
[115] with mountainous terrain north-west of the
Tees-Exe line; including the
Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District, the
Pennines and
limestone hills of the
Peak District,
Exmoor and
Dartmoor. The main rivers and estuaries are the
Thames,
Severn and the
Humber. England's highest mountain is
Scafell Pike (978 metres (3,209 ft)) in the
Lake District. Its principal
rivers are the Severn, Thames, Humber, Tees, Tyne, Tweed, Avon, Exe and Mersey.
[115]
Scotland accounts for just under a third of the total area of the UK, covering 78,772 square kilometres (30,410 sq mi)
[120] and including nearly eight hundred
islands,
[121] predominantly west and north of the mainland; notably the
Hebrides,
Orkney Islands and
Shetland Islands. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the
Highland Boundary Fault – a
geological rock fracture – which traverses Scotland from
Arran in the west to
Stonehaven in the east.
[122] The faultline separates two distinctively different regions; namely the
Highlands to the north and west and the
lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous land, including
Ben Nevis which at 1,343 metres (4,406 ft) is the highest point in the British Isles.
[123] Lowland areas – especially the narrow waist of land between the
Firth of Clyde and the
Firth of Forth known as the
Central Belt – are flatter and home to most of the population including
Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and
Edinburgh, its capital and political centre.
Wales accounts for less than a tenth of the total area of the UK, covering 20,779 square kilometres (8,020 sq mi).
[124] Wales is mostly mountainous, though
South Wales is less mountainous than
North and
mid Wales. The main population and industrial areas are in South Wales, consisting of the coastal cities of
Cardiff,
Swansea and
Newport, and the
South Wales Valleys to their north. The highest mountains in Wales are in
Snowdonia and include
Snowdon (
Welsh:
Yr Wyddfa) which, at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft), is the highest peak in Wales.
[115] The 14, or possibly 15, Welsh mountains over 3,000 feet (914 m) high are known collectively as the
Welsh 3000s. Wales has over 2,704 kilometres (1,680 miles) of coastline.
[117] Several islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest of which is
Anglesey (
Ynys Môn) in the northwest.
Northern Ireland, separated from Great Britain by the
Irish Sea and
North Channel, has an area of 14,160 square kilometres (5,470 sq mi) and is mostly hilly. It includes
Lough Neagh which, at 388 square kilometres (150 sq mi), is the largest lake in the British Isles by area.
[125] The highest peak in Northern Ireland is
Slieve Donard in the
Mourne Mountains at 852 metres (2,795 ft).
[115]
Climate
The United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round.
[114] The temperature varies with the seasons seldom dropping below −11
°C (12
°F) or rising above 35 °C (95 °F).
[126] The prevailing wind is from the south-west and bears frequent spells of mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean,
[114] although the eastern parts are mostly sheltered from this wind since the majority of the rain falls over the western regions the eastern parts are therefore the driest. Atlantic currents, warmed by the
Gulf Stream, bring mild winters;
[127] especially in the west where winters are wet and even more so over high ground. Summers are warmest in the south-east of England, being closest to the European mainland, and coolest in the north. Heavy snowfall can occur in winter and early spring on high ground, and occasionally settles to great depth away from the hills.
Administrative divisions
Each country of the United Kingdom has its own system of administrative and geographic demarcation, whose origins often pre-date the formation of the United Kingdom. Thus there is "no common stratum of administrative unit encompassing the United Kingdom".
[128] Until the 19th century there was little change to those arrangements, but there has since been a constant evolution of role and function.
[129] Change did not occur in a uniform manner and the devolution of power over local government to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland means that future changes are also unlikely to be uniform.
The organisation of
local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is the responsibility of the UK parliament and the
Government of the United Kingdom, as England has no devolved parliament. The upper-tier
subdivisions of England are the nine
Government office regions or European Union government office regions.
[130] One region,
Greater London, has had a directly elected assembly and mayor since 2000 following popular support for the proposal in a
referendum.
[131] It was intended that other regions would also be given their own elected
regional assemblies, but a proposed assembly in the
North East region was rejected by a
referendum in 2004.
[132] Below the regional tier, some parts of England have
county councils and district councils and others have
unitary authorities; while London consists of 32
London boroughs and the
City of London. Councillors are elected by the
first-past-the-post system in single-member wards or by the
multi-member plurality system in multi-member wards.
[133]
For
local government purposes, Scotland is divided into
32 council areas, with wide variation in both size and population. The cities of
Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen and
Dundee are separate council areas, as is the
Highland Council which includes a third of Scotland's area but only just over 200,000 people. Local councils are made up of elected councillors, of whom there are currently 1,223;
[134] they are paid a part-time salary. Elections are conducted by
single transferable vote in multi-member wards that elect either three or four councillors. Each council elects a
Provost, or
Convenor, to chair meetings of the council and to act as a figurehead for the area.
Councillors are subject to a
code of conduct enforced by the
Standards Commission for Scotland.
[135] The representative association of Scotland's local authorities is the
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).
[136]
Local government in Wales consists of 22 unitary authorities. These include the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport which are unitary authorities in their own right.
[137] Elections are held every four years under the first-past-the-post system.
[137] The most recent elections were held in May 2012, except for the
Isle of Anglesey. The
Welsh Local Government Association represents the interests of local authorities in Wales.
[138]
Local government in Northern Ireland has since 1973 been organised into 26 district councils, each elected by single transferable vote. Their powers are limited to services such as collecting waste, controlling dogs and maintaining parks and cemeteries.
[139] On 13 March 2008 the executive agreed on proposals to create 11 new councils and replace the present system.
[140] The next local elections were postponed until 2016 to facilitate this.
[141]
Dependencies
The United Kingdom has sovereignty over seventeen territories which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself: fourteen British Overseas Territories
[17] and three Crown dependencies.
[17][144]
The fourteen British Overseas Territories are:
Anguilla;
Bermuda; the
British Antarctic Territory; the
British Indian Ocean Territory; the
British Virgin Islands; the
Cayman Islands; the
Falkland Islands;
Gibraltar;
Montserrat;
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; the
Turks and Caicos Islands; the
Pitcairn Islands;
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and
Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus.
[145] British claims in Antarctica are not universally recognised.
[146] Collectively Britain's overseas territories encompass an approximate land area of 1,727,570 square kilometres (667,018 sq mi) and a population of approximately 260,000 people.
[147] They are the remnants of the British Empire and several have specifically voted to remain British territories (Bermuda in
1995, Gibraltar in
2002 and the Falkland Islands in
2013).
[148]
The Crown dependencies are possessions of
the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the UK.
[149] They comprise three independently administered jurisdictions: the
Channel Islands of
Jersey and
Guernsey in the English Channel, and the
Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. By mutual agreement, the British Government manages the islands' foreign affairs and defence and the UK Parliament has the authority to legislate on their behalf. However, internationally, they are regarded as "territories for which the United Kingdom is responsible".
[150] The power to pass legislation affecting the islands ultimately rests with their own respective legislative assemblies, with the assent of the Crown (
Privy Council or, in the case of the Isle of Man, in certain circumstances the Lieutenant-Governor).
[151] Since 2005 each Crown dependency has had a
Chief Minister as its
head of government.
[152]
Politics
The United Kingdom is a
unitary state under a
constitutional monarchy.
Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the UK as well as monarch of fifteen other independent
Commonwealth countries. The monarch has "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".
[153] The United Kingdom is one of only four countries in the world to have an
uncodified constitution.
[154][nb 8] The
Constitution of the United Kingdom thus consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including
statutes, judge-made
case law and international treaties, together with
constitutional conventions. As there is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and "constitutional law", the
UK Parliament can perform "constitutional reform" simply by passing
Acts of Parliament, and thus has the political power to change or abolish almost any written or unwritten element of the constitution. However, no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change.
[155]
Government
The UK has a
parliamentary government based on the
Westminster system that has been emulated around the world: a legacy of the British Empire. The parliament of the United Kingdom meets in the
Palace of Westminster and has two houses: an elected
House of Commons and an appointed
House of Lords. All bills passed are given
Royal Assent before becoming law.
The position of
prime minister,
[nb 9] the UK's
head of government,
[156] belongs to the person most likely to command the
confidence of the House of Commons; this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The prime minister chooses a cabinet and its members are formally appointed by the monarch to form
Her Majesty's Government. By convention, the Queen respects the prime minister's decisions of government.
[157]
The
cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the prime minister's party or coalition and mostly from the House of Commons but always from both legislative houses, the cabinet being
responsible to both. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and become
Ministers of the Crown. The current Prime Minister is
David Cameron, who has been in office since 11 May 2010.
[158] Cameron is the leader of the
Conservative Party and heads a coalition with the
Liberal Democrats. For elections to the House of Commons, the UK is currently divided into
650 constituencies,
[159] each electing a single
member of parliament (MP) by
simple plurality. General elections are called by the monarch when the prime minister so advises. The
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 require that a new election must be called no later than five years after the previous general election.
[160]
The UK's three
major political parties are currently the Conservative Party (
Tories), the
Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, representing the British traditions of
conservatism,
socialism and
social liberalism, respectively. At the
2010 general election these three parties together won 622 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons.
[161][162] Most of the remaining seats were won by parties that contest elections only in one part of the UK: the
Scottish National Party (Scotland only);
Plaid Cymru (Wales only); and the
Alliance Party,
Democratic Unionist Party,
Social Democratic and Labour Party and
Sinn Féin (Northern Ireland only
[nb 10]). In accordance with party policy, no elected Sinn Féin members of parliament have ever attended the House of Commons to speak on behalf of their constituents because of the requirement to take an oath of allegiance to the monarch.
Devolved administrations
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own
government or executive, led by a
First Minister (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, a
diarchal First Minister and deputy First Minister), and a
devolved unicameral legislature. England, the largest country of the United Kingdom, has no such devolved executive or legislature and is administered and legislated for directly by the UK government and parliament on all issues. This situation has given rise to the so-called
West Lothian question which concerns the fact that members of parliament from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can vote, sometimes decisively,
[163] on matters that only affect England.
[164]
The
McKay Commission reported on this matter in March 2013 recommending that laws affecting only England should need support from a majority of English members of parliament.
[165]
The
Scottish Government and
Parliament have wide-ranging powers over any matter that has not been specifically
reserved to the UK parliament, including
education,
healthcare,
Scots law and
local government.
[166] At the
2011 elections the Scottish National Party won re-election and achieved an overall majority in the Scottish parliament, with its leader,
Alex Salmond, as
First Minister of Scotland.
[167][168] In 2012, the UK and Scottish governments signed the
Edinburgh Agreement setting out the terms for a
referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, which was defeated 55% to 45%.
The
Welsh Government and the
National Assembly for Wales have more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland.
[169] The Assembly is able to legislate on devolved matters through
Acts of the Assembly, which require no prior consent from Westminster. The
2011 elections resulted in a minority Labour administration led by
Carwyn Jones.
[170]
The
Northern Ireland Executive and
Assembly have powers similar to those devolved to Scotland. The Executive is led by a
diarchy representing
unionist and
nationalist members of the Assembly. Currently,
Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) and
Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) are
First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively.
[171] Devolution to Northern Ireland is contingent on participation by the Northern Ireland administration in the
North-South Ministerial Council, where the Northern Ireland Executive cooperates and develops joint and shared policies with the
Government of Ireland. The British and Irish governments co-operate on non-devolved matters affecting Northern Ireland through the
British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which assumes the responsibilities of the Northern Ireland administration in the event of its non-operation.
The UK does not have a
codified constitution and constitutional matters are not among the powers devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Under the doctrine of
parliamentary sovereignty, the UK Parliament could, in theory, therefore, abolish the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly.
[172][173] Indeed, in 1972, the UK Parliament
unilaterally prorogued the
Parliament of Northern Ireland, setting a precedent relevant to contemporary devolved institutions.
[174] In practice, it would be politically difficult for the UK Parliament to abolish devolution to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, given the political entrenchment created by referendum decisions.
[175] The political constraints placed upon the UK Parliament's power to interfere with devolution in Northern Ireland are even greater than in relation to Scotland and Wales, given that devolution in Northern Ireland rests upon an international agreement with the
Government of Ireland.
[176]
Law and criminal justice
The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system, as Article 19 of the
1706 Treaty of Union provided for the continuation of Scotland's separate legal system.
[177] Today the UK has three distinct
systems of law:
English law,
Northern Ireland law and
Scots law. A new
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being in October 2009 to replace the
Appellate Committee of the House of Lords.
[178][179] The
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, including the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the
British Overseas Territories and the
Crown Dependencies.
[180]
Both English law, which applies in
England and Wales, and
Northern Ireland law are based on
common-law principles.
[181] The essence of common law is that, subject to statute, the law is developed by judges in courts, applying statute,
precedent and common sense to the facts before them to give explanatory judgements of the relevant legal principles, which are reported and binding in future similar cases (
stare decisis).
[182] The
courts of England and Wales are headed by the
Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the
Court of Appeal, the
High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the
Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction, often having a persuasive effect in other jurisdictions.
[183]
Scots law is a hybrid system based on both common-law and
civil-law principles. The chief courts are the
Court of Session, for civil cases,
[184] and the
High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases.
[185] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law.
[186] Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as sheriff summary Court.
[187] The Scots legal system is unique in having three possible
verdicts for a criminal trial: "
guilty", "
not guilty" and "
not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal.
[188]
Crime in England and Wales increased in the period between 1981 and 1995, though since that peak there has been an overall fall of 48% in recorded crime from 1995 to 2007/08,
[needs update][189] according to
crime statistics. The
prison population of England and Wales has almost doubled over the same period, to over 80,000, giving England and Wales the highest rate of incarceration in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000.
[190] Her Majesty's Prison Service, which reports to the
Ministry of Justice, manages most of the prisons within England and Wales. Crime in Scotland fell to its lowest recorded level for 32 years in 2009/10, falling by ten per cent.
[191] At the same time Scotland's prison population, at over 8,000,
[192] is at record levels and well above design capacity.
[193] The
Scottish Prison Service, which reports to the
Cabinet Secretary for Justice, manages Scotland's prisons.
Foreign relations
The UK is a
permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council, a member of
NATO, the
Commonwealth of Nations,
G7,
G8,
G20, the
OECD, the
WTO, the
Council of Europe, the
OSCE, and is a
member state of the European Union. The UK is said to have a "
Special Relationship" with the United States and a close partnership with France—the "
Entente cordiale"—and shares nuclear weapons technology with both countries.
[194][195] The UK is also closely linked with the Republic of Ireland; the two countries share a
Common Travel Area and co-operate through the
British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and the
British-Irish Council. Britain's global presence and influence is further amplified through its trading relations, foreign investments,
official development assistance and military engagements.
[196]
Military
The
armed forces of the United Kingdom—officially,
Her Majesty's Armed Forces—consist of three professional service branches: the
Royal Navy and
Royal Marines (forming the
Naval Service), the
British Army and the
Royal Air Force.
[197] The forces are managed by the
Ministry of Defence and controlled by the
Defence Council, chaired by the
Secretary of State for Defence. The
Commander-in-Chief is the
British monarch,
Elizabeth II, to whom members of the forces swear an oath of allegiance.
[198] The Armed Forces are charged with protecting the UK and its overseas territories, promoting the UK's global security interests and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in
NATO, including the
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, as well as the
Five Power Defence Arrangements,
RIMPAC and other worldwide coalition operations. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained in
Ascension Island,
Belize,
Brunei,
Canada,
Cyprus,
Diego Garcia, the
Falkland Islands,
Germany,
Gibraltar,
Kenya,
Qatar and
Singapore.
[199][200]
The British armed forces played a key role in establishing the
British Empire as the
dominant world power in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Throughout its unique history the British forces have seen action in a number of major wars, such as the
Seven Years' War, the
Napoleonic Wars, the
Crimean War,
World War I and
World War II—as well as many colonial conflicts. By emerging victorious from such conflicts, Britain has often been able to decisively
influence world events. Since the end of the British Empire, the UK has nonetheless remained a major military power. Following the end of the
Cold War, defence policy has a stated assumption that "the most demanding operations" will be undertaken as part of a coalition.
[201] Setting aside the
intervention in Sierra Leone, recent UK military operations in
Bosnia,
Kosovo,
Afghanistan,
Iraq and, most recently,
Libya, have followed this approach. The last time the British military fought alone was the
Falklands War of 1982.
According to various sources, including the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, the United Kingdom has the fifth- or sixth-highest
military expenditure in the world. Total defence spending currently accounts for around 2.4% of total national GDP.
[22][23]
Economy
The UK has a partially regulated
market economy.
[202] Based on market
exchange rates the UK is today the sixth-largest economy in the world and the third-largest in Europe after Germany and France, having fallen behind France for the first time in over a decade in 2008.
[203] HM Treasury, led by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, is responsible for developing and executing the British government's
public finance policy and
economic policy. The
Bank of England is the UK's
central bank and is responsible for issuing notes and coins in the nation's currency, the
pound sterling. Banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland retain the right to issue their own notes, subject to retaining enough Bank of England notes in reserve to cover their issue. Pound sterling is the world's third-largest
reserve currency (after the US Dollar and the Euro).
[204] Since 1997 the Bank of England's
Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the
Governor of the Bank of England, has been responsible for setting
interest rates at the level necessary to achieve the overall inflation target for the economy that is set by the Chancellor each year.
[205]
The UK
service sector makes up around 73% of GDP.
[206] London is one of the three "command centres" of
the global economy (alongside New York City and Tokyo),
[207] it is the world's largest financial centre alongside New York,
[208][209][210] and it has the
largest city GDP in Europe.
[211] Edinburgh is also one of the largest financial centres in Europe.
[212] Tourism is very important to the British economy and, with over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world and London has the most international visitors of any city in the world.
[213][214] The
creative industries accounted for 7% GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6% per annum between 1997 and 2005.
[215]
The
Airbus A350 has its wings and engines manufactured in the UK.
The
Industrial Revolution started in the UK with an initial concentration on the textile industry,
[216] followed by other heavy industries such as
shipbuilding, coal mining and
steelmaking.
[217][218] British merchants, shippers and bankers developed overwhelming advantage over those of other nations allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century.
[219][220] As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7% of national output in 2003.
[221]
The
automotive industry is a significant part of the UK manufacturing sector and employs over 800,000 people, with a turnover of some £52 billion, generating £26.6 billion of exports.
[222]
The
aerospace industry of the UK is the second- or third-largest national aerospace industry in the world depending upon the method of measurement and has an annual turnover of around £20 billion. The wings for the
Airbus A380 and the
A350 XWB are designed and manufactured at
Airbus UK's world-leading Broughton facility, whilst over a quarter of the value of the
Boeing 787 comes from UK manufacturers including Eaton (fuel subsystem pumps),
Messier-Bugatti-Dowty (the landing gear) and
Rolls-Royce (the engines). Other key names include
GKN Aerospace – an expert in metallic and composite aerostructures that's involved in almost every civil and military fixed and rotary wing aircraft in production and development today.
[223][224][225][224][226][225][226]
BAE Systems plays a critical role in some of the world's biggest defence aerospace projects. The company makes large sections of the
Typhoon Eurofighter at its sub-assembly plant in Salmesbury and assembles the aircraft for the
RAF at its Warton Plant, near Preston. It is also a principal subcontractor on the
F35 Joint Strike Fighter—the world's largest single defence project—for which it designs and manufactures a range of components including the aft fuselage, vertical and horizontal tail and wing tips and fuel system. As well as this it manufactures the
Hawk, the world's most successful jet training aircraft.
[226] Airbus UK also manufactures the wings for the
A400 m military transporter.
Rolls-Royce, is the world's second-largest aero-engine manufacturer. Its engines power more than 30 types of
commercial aircraft and it has more than 30,000 engines currently in service across both the civil and defence sectors. Rolls-Royce is forecast to have more than 50% of the widebody market share by 2016, ahead of
General Electric.
[227] Agusta Westland designs and manufactures complete helicopters in the UK.
[226]
The UK space industry is growing very fast. Worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employing 29,000 people, it is growing at a rate of some 7.5% annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the
UK Space Agency. Government strategy is for the space industry to be a £40bn business for the UK by 2030, capturing a 10% share of the $250bn world market for commercial space technology.
[226] On 16 July 2013, the British government pledged £60 m to the
Skylon project: this investment will provide support at a "crucial stage" to allow a full-scale prototype of the
SABRE engine to be built.
The
pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the UK economy and the country has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures (after the United States and Japan).
[228][229]
Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 1.6% of the labour force (535,000 workers).
[230] Around two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one-third to arable crops. Farmers are subsidised by the EU's
Common Agricultural Policy. The UK retains a significant, though much reduced fishing industry. It is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica and an abundance of arable land.
In the final quarter of 2008 the UK economy officially entered
recession for the first time since 1991.
[231] Unemployment increased from 5.2% in May 2008 to 7.6% in May 2009 and by January 2012 the unemployment rate among 18 to 24-year-olds had risen from 11.9% to 22.5%, the highest since current records began in 1992.
[232][233] Total UK
government debt rose from 44.4% of GDP in 2007 to 82.9% of GDP in 2011.
[234] In February 2013, the UK lost its top AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978.
[235]
Inflation-adjusted wages in the UK fell by 3.2% between the third quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2012.
[236] Since the 1980s,
economic inequality has grown faster in the UK than in any other developed country.
[237]
The
poverty line in the UK is commonly defined as being 60% of the median household income.
[nb 11] In 2007–2008 13.5 million people, or 22% of the population, lived below this line. This is a higher level of
relative poverty than all but four other EU members.
[238] In the same year 4.0 million children, 31% of the total, lived in households below the poverty line after housing costs were taken into account. This is a decrease of 400,000 children since 1998–1999.
[239] The UK imports 40% of its food supplies.
[240] The
Office for National Statistics has estimated that in 2011, 14 million people were at risk of
poverty or social exclusion, and that one person in 20 (5.1%) was now experiencing "severe material depression,"
[241] up from 3 million people in 1977.
[242][243]
Science and technology
England and Scotland were leading centres of the
Scientific Revolution from the 17th century
[244] and the United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century,
[216] and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances.
[245] Major theorists from the 17th and 18th centuries include
Isaac Newton, whose
laws of motion and illumination of
gravity have been seen as a keystone of modern science;
[246] from the 19th century
Charles Darwin, whose theory of
evolution by
natural selection was fundamental to the development of modern biology, and
James Clerk Maxwell, who formulated classical
electromagnetic theory; and more recently
Stephen Hawking, who has advanced major theories in the fields of
cosmology,
quantum gravity and the investigation of
black holes.
[247] Major scientific discoveries from the 18th century include
hydrogen by
Henry Cavendish;
[248] from the 20th century
penicillin by
Alexander Fleming,
[249] and the structure of
DNA, by
Francis Crick and others.
[250] Major engineering projects and applications by people from the UK in the 18th century include the
steam locomotive, developed by
Richard Trevithick and
Andrew Vivian;
[251] from the 19th century the
electric motor by
Michael Faraday, the
incandescent light bulb by
Joseph Swan,
[252] and the first practical telephone, patented by
Alexander Graham Bell;
[253] and in the 20th century the world's first working television system by
John Logie Baird and others,
[254] the
jet engine by
Frank Whittle, the basis of the modern computer by
Alan Turing, and the
World Wide Web by
Tim Berners-Lee.
[255]
Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing
science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry.
[256] Between 2004 and 2008 the UK produced 7% of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8% share of scientific citations, the third and second highest in the world (after the United States and China, and the United States, respectively).
[257] Scientific journals produced in the UK include
Nature, the
British Medical Journal and
The Lancet.
[258]
Transport
A radial road network totals 29,145 miles (46,904 km) of main roads, 2,173 miles (3,497 km) of motorways and 213,750 miles (344,000 km) of paved roads.
[114] The
M25, encircling London, is the largest and busiest bypass in the world.
[261] In 2009 there were a total of 34 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain.
[262]
The UK has a railway network of 10,072 miles (16,209 km) in
Great Britain and 189 miles (304 km) in
Northern Ireland. Railways in Northern Ireland are operated by
NI Railways, a subsidiary of state-owned
Translink. In Great Britain, the
British Rail network was privatised between 1994 and 1997.
Network Rail owns and manages most of the fixed assets (tracks, signals etc.). About 20 privately owned (and foreign state-owned railways including:
Deutsche Bahn;
SNCF and
Nederlandse Spoorwegen)
Train Operating Companies (including state-owned
East Coast), operate passenger trains and carry over 18,000 passenger trains daily. There are also some 1,000 freight trains in daily operation.
[114] The UK government is to spend £30 billion on a new high-speed railway line,
HS2, to be operational by 2025.
[263] Crossrail, under construction in London, Is Europe's largest construction project with a £15 billion projected cost.
[264][265]
In the year from October 2009 to September 2010 UK airports handled a total of 211.4 million passengers.
[266] In that period the three largest airports were
London Heathrow Airport (65.6 million passengers),
Gatwick Airport (31.5 million passengers) and
London Stansted Airport (18.9 million passengers).
[266] London Heathrow Airport, located 15 miles (24 km) west of the capital, has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world
[259][260] and is the hub for the UK flag carrier
British Airways, as well as for
BMI and
Virgin Atlantic.
[267]
Energy
In 2006, the UK was the world's ninth-largest consumer of energy and the 15th-largest producer.
[268] The UK is home to a number of large energy companies, including two of the six oil and gas "
supermajors" –
BP and
Royal Dutch Shell – and
BG Group.
[269][270] In 2011, 40% of the UK's electricity was produced by gas, 30% by coal, 19% by nuclear power and 4.2% by wind, hydro, biofuels and wastes.
[271]
In 2009, the UK produced 1.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and consumed 1.7 million bbl/d.
[272] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of oil since 2005.
[272] In 2010
[update] the UK had around 3.1 billion barrels of proven
crude oil reserves, the largest of any EU member state.
[272] In 2009, 66.5% of the UK's oil supply was imported.
[273]
In 2009, the UK was the 13th-largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer in the EU.
[274] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of natural gas since 2004.
[274] In 2009, half of British gas was supplied from imports and this is expected to increase to at least 75% by 2015,
[needs update] as domestic reserves are depleted.
[271]
Coal production played a key role in the UK economy in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the mid-1970s, 130 million tonnes of coal was being produced annually, not falling below 100 million tonnes until the early 1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s the industry was scaled back considerably. In 2011, the UK produced 18.3 million tonnes of coal.
[275] In 2005 it had proven recoverable coal reserves of 171 million tons.
[275] The UK
Coal Authority has stated there is a potential to produce between 7 billion tonnes and 16 billion tonnes of coal through
underground coal gasification (UCG) or '
fracking',
[276] and that, based on current UK coal consumption, such reserves could last between 200 and 400 years.
[277] However, environmental and social concerns have been raised over chemicals getting into the water table and minor earthquakes damaging homes.
[278][279]
In the late 1990s, nuclear power plants contributed around 25% of total annual electricity generation in the UK, but this has gradually declined as old plants have been shut down and ageing-related problems affect plant availability. In 2012, the UK had 16 reactors normally generating about 19% of its electricity. All but one of the reactors will be retired by 2023. Unlike Germany and Japan, the UK intends to build a new generation of nuclear plants from about 2018.
[271]
Demographics
Map of population density in the UK as at the 2011 census.
A
census is taken simultaneously in all parts of the UK every ten years.
[280] The
Office for National Statistics is responsible for collecting data for England and Wales, the
General Register Office for Scotland and the
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency each being responsible for censuses in their respective countries.
[281] In the
2011 census the total population of the United Kingdom was 63,181,775.
[282] It is the third-largest in the European Union, the fifth-largest in the Commonwealth and the 21st-largest in the world. 2010 was the third successive year in which natural change contributed more to population growth than net long-term international migration.
[283][283] Between 2001 and 2011 the population increased by an average annual rate of approximately 0.7%.
[282] This compares to 0.3% per year in the period 1991 to 2001 and 0.2% in the decade 1981 to 1991.
[283] The 2011 census also confirmed that the proportion of the population aged 0–14 has nearly halved (31% in 1911 compared to 18 in 2011) and the proportion of older people aged 65 and over has more than tripled (from 5 to 16%).
[282] It has been estimated that the number of people aged 100 or over will rise steeply to reach over 626,000 by 2080.
[284]
England's population in 2011 was found to be 53 million.
[285] It is one of the most densely populated countries in
the world, with 383 people resident per square kilometre in mid-2003,
[286] with a particular concentration in London and the south-east.
[287] The 2011 census put Scotland's population at 5.3 million,
[288] Wales at 3.06 million and Northern Ireland at 1.81 million.
[285] In percentage terms England has had the fastest growing population of any country of the UK in the period from 2001 to 2011, with an increase of 7.9%.
In 2012 the average
total fertility rate (TFR) across the UK was 1.92 children per woman.
[289] While a rising birth rate is contributing to current population growth, it remains considerably below the 'baby boom' peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964,
[290] below the replacement rate of 2.1, but higher than the 2001 record low of 1.63.
[289] In 2012, Scotland had the lowest TFR at only 1.67, followed by Wales at 1.88, England at 1.94, and Northern Ireland at 2.03.
[289] In 2011, 47.3% of births in the UK were to unmarried women.
[291] A government figure estimated that there are 3.6 million homosexual people in Britain comprising 6% of the population.
[292]
Largest urban areas of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom 2011 census Built-up areas[293][294][295] |
|---|
|
Rank |
Urban area |
Pop. |
Principal settlement |
Rank |
Urban area |
Pop. |
Principal settlement |
|
Greater London Urban Area
Greater Manchester Urban Area |
1 |
Greater London Urban Area |
9,787,426 |
London |
11 |
Bristol Urban Area |
617,280 |
Bristol |
West Midlands Urban Area
West Yorkshire Urban Area |
| 2 |
Greater Manchester Urban Area |
2,553,379 |
Manchester |
12 |
Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area |
579,236 |
Belfast |
| 3 |
West Midlands Urban Area |
2,440,986 |
Birmingham |
13 |
Leicester Urban Area |
508,916 |
Leicester |
| 4 |
West Yorkshire Urban Area |
1,777,934 |
Leeds |
14 |
Edinburgh |
488,610 |
Edinburgh |
| 5 |
Greater Glasgow |
976,970 |
Glasgow |
15 |
Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton |
474,485 |
Brighton |
| 6 |
Liverpool Urban Area |
864,122 |
Liverpool |
16 |
South East Dorset conurbation |
466,266 |
Bournemouth |
| 7 |
South Hampshire |
855,569 |
Southampton |
17 |
Cardiff Urban Area |
390,214 |
Cardiff |
| 8 |
Tyneside |
774,891 |
Newcastle |
18 |
Teesside |
376,633 |
Middlesbrough |
| 9 |
Nottingham Urban Area |
729,977 |
Nottingham |
19 |
The Potteries Urban Area |
372,775 |
Stoke-on-Trent |
| 10 |
Sheffield Urban Area |
685,368 |
Sheffield |
20 |
Coventry and Bedworth Urban Area |
359,262 |
Coventry |
Ethnic groups
Map showing the percentage of the population who are not white according to the 2011 census.
Historically, indigenous British people were thought to be
descended from the various ethnic groups that settled there before the 11th century: the
Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse and the
Normans.
Welsh people could be the oldest ethnic group in the UK.
[296] A 2006 genetic study shows that more than 50% of England's gene pool contains
Germanic Y chromosomes.
[297] Another 2005 genetic analysis indicates that "about 75% of the traceable ancestors of the modern British population had arrived in the British isles by about 6,200 years ago, at the start of the British Neolithic or Stone Age", and that the British broadly share a common ancestry with the
Basque people.
[298][299][300]
The UK has a history of small-scale non-white immigration, with
Liverpool having the oldest Black population in the country dating back to at least the 1730s during the period of the African slave trade,
[301] and the oldest
Chinese community in Europe, dating to the arrival of Chinese seamen in the 19th century.
[302] In 1950 there were probably fewer than 20,000 non-white residents in Britain, almost all born overseas.
[303]
Since 1948 substantial immigration from Africa, the
Caribbean and
South Asia has been a legacy of ties forged by the
British Empire.
[304] Migration from new EU member states in
Central and Eastern Europe since 2004 has resulted in growth in these population groups, although some of this migration has been temporary.
[305] Since the 1990s, there has been substantial diversification of the immigrant population, with migrants to the UK coming from a much wider range of countries than previous waves, which tended to involve larger numbers of migrants coming from a relatively small number of countries.
[306][307][308]
Academics have argued that the
ethnicity categories employed in British national statistics, which were first introduced in the
1991 census, involve confusion between the concepts of
ethnicity and
race.
[309][310] In
2011[update], 87.2% of the UK population identified themselves as white, meaning 12.8% of the UK population identify themselves as of one of number of
ethnic minority groups.
[311] In the 2001 census, this figure was 7.9% of the UK population.
[312]
The fastest-growing ethnicity category over the period from 2001 to 2011 was the other Asian category, which increased from 0.4 to 1.4% of the population.
[311][312] There was also considerable growth in the
mixed category. In 2001, people in this category accounted for 1.2% of the population;
[312] by 2011, the proportion was 2%.
[311]
Ethnic diversity varies significantly across the UK. 30.4% of London's population and 37.4% of
Leicester's was
estimated to be non-white in 2005
[update],
[313][314] whereas less than 5% of the populations of
North East England, Wales and the
South West were from ethnic minorities, according to the 2001 census.
[315] In 2011
[update], 26.5% of primary and 22.2% of secondary pupils at
state schools in England were members of an ethnic minority.
[316]
| Ethnic group |
Population, 2011 |
Percentage of total population, 2011[311] |
| White |
55,010,359 |
87.1 |
| White: Gypsy/Traveller/Irish Traveller |
63,193 |
0.1 |
| Asian/Asian British: Indian |
1,451,862 |
2.3 |
| Asian/Asian British: Pakistani |
1,174,983 |
1.9 |
| Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi |
451,529 |
0.7 |
| Asian/Asian British: Chinese |
433,150 |
0.7 |
| Asian/Asian British: Other Asian |
861,815 |
1.4 |
| Black/African/Caribbean/Black British |
1,904,684 |
3.0 |
| Mixed/multiple ethnic groups |
1,250,229 |
2.0 |
| Other ethnic group |
580,374 |
0.9 |
| Total |
63,182,178 |
100 |
Languages
The UK's
de facto official language is
English.
[319][320] It is estimated that 95% of the UK's population are
monolingual English speakers.
[321] 5.5% of the population are estimated to speak languages brought to the UK as a result of relatively recent immigration.
[321] South Asian languages, including
Bengali,
Tamil,
Punjabi,
Hindi and
Gujarati, are the largest grouping and are spoken by 2.7% of the UK population.
[321] According to the 2011 census,
Polish has become the second-largest language spoken in England and has 546,000 speakers.
[322]
Four
Celtic languages are spoken in the UK:
Welsh;
Irish;
Scottish Gaelic; and
Cornish. All are recognised as regional or minority languages, subject to specific measures of protection and promotion under the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages[2][323] and the
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
[324] In the 2001 Census over a fifth (21%) of the population of Wales said they could speak Welsh,
[325] an increase from the 1991 Census (18%).
[326] In addition it is estimated that about 200,000 Welsh speakers live in England.
[327] In the same census in Northern Ireland 167,487 people (10.4%) stated that they had "some knowledge of Irish" (see
Irish language in Northern Ireland), almost exclusively in the
nationalist (mainly Catholic) population. Over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2% of the population) had some Gaelic language ability, including 72% of those living in the
Outer Hebrides.
[328] The number of schoolchildren being taught through Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish is increasing.
[329] Among emigrant-descended populations some Scottish Gaelic is still
spoken in Canada (principally
Nova Scotia and
Cape Breton Island),
[330] and Welsh in
Patagonia, Argentina.
[331]
Scots, a language descended from early northern
Middle English, has limited
recognition alongside its regional variant,
Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, without specific commitments to protection and promotion.
[2][332]
It is compulsory for pupils to study a second language up to the age of 14 in England,
[333] and up to age 16 in Scotland. French and German are the two most commonly taught second languages in England and Scotland. All pupils in Wales are taught Welsh as a second language up to age 16, or are
taught in Welsh.
[334]
Religion
Forms of
Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1,400 years.
[335] Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,
[336] while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam.
[337] This has led some commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith,
[338] secularised,
[339] or
post-Christian society.
[340]
In the 2001 census 71.6% of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths (by number of adherents) being Islam (2.8%),
Hinduism (1.0%),
Sikhism (0.6%), Judaism (0.5%),
Buddhism (0.3%) and all other religions (0.3%).
[341] 15% of respondents stated that they had
no religion, with a further 7% not stating a religious preference.
[342] A
Tearfund survey in 2007 showed only one in ten Britons actually attend church weekly.
[343] Between the 2001 and 2011 census there was a decrease in the amount of people who identified as Christian by 12%, whilst the percentage of those reporting no religious affiliation doubled. This contrasted with growth in the other main religious group categories, with the number of Muslims increasing by the most substantial margin to a total of about 5%.
[344]
The
Church of England is the
established church in England.
[345] It retains a
representation in the
UK Parliament and the
British monarch is its
Supreme Governor.
[346] In
Scotland the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised as the
national church. It is not
subject to state control, and the British monarch is an ordinary member, required to swear an oath to "maintain and preserve the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government" upon his or her accession.
[347][348] The (Anglican)
Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and, as the (Anglican)
Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 before the
partition of Ireland, there is no established church in Northern Ireland.
[349] Although there are no UK-wide data in the 2001 census on adherence to individual Christian denominations, it has been estimated that 62% of Christians are Anglican, 13.5%
Catholic, 6%
Presbyterian, 3.4%
Methodist with small numbers of other
Protestant denominations such as
Open Brethren, and
Orthodox churches.
[350]
Migration
Estimated foreign-born population by country of birth, April 2007 – March 2008
The United Kingdom has experienced successive waves of migration. The
Great Famine in Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, resulted in perhaps a million people migrating to Great Britain.
[351] Unable to return to Poland at the end of World War II, over 120,000
Polish veterans remained in the UK permanently.
[352] After World War II, there was significant immigration from the colonies and newly independent former colonies, partly as a legacy of empire and partly driven by labour shortages. Many of these migrants came from the
Caribbean and the
Indian subcontinent.
[353] In 1841, 0.25% of the population of
England and Wales was born in a foreign country. By 1931, this figure had risen to 2.6%, and by 1951 it was 4.4%.
[354]
One of the more recent trends in migration has been the arrival of workers from the new EU member states in Eastern Europe. In 2010, there were 7.0 million foreign-born residents in the UK, corresponding to 11.3% of the total population. Of these, 4.76 million (7.7%) were born outside the EU and 2.24 million (3.6%) were born in another EU Member State.
[355] The proportion of foreign-born people in the UK remains slightly below that of many other European countries.
[356] However, immigration is now contributing to a rising population
[357] with arrivals and UK-born children of migrants accounting for about half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001. Analysis of
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that a net total of 2.3 million migrants moved to the UK in the 15 years from 1991 to 2006.
[358][359] In 2008 it was predicted that migration would add 7 million to the UK population by 2031,
[360] though these figures are disputed.
[361] The ONS reported that net migration rose from 2009 to 2010 by 21% to 239,000.
[362] In 2011 the net increase was 251,000: immigration was 589,000, while the number of people emigrating (for more than 12 months) was 338,000.
[363][364]
195,046 foreign nationals became British citizens in 2010,
[365] compared to 54,902 in 1999.
[365][366] A record 241,192 people were granted permanent settlement rights in 2010, of whom 51% were from Asia and 27% from Africa.
[367] 25.5% of babies born in England and Wales in 2011 were born to mothers born outside the UK, according to official statistics released in 2012.
[368]
Citizens of the European Union, including those of the UK, have the right to live and work in any EU member state.
[369] The UK applied temporary restrictions to citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU in January 2007.
[370] Research conducted by the
Migration Policy Institute for the
Equality and Human Rights Commission suggests that, between May 2004 and September 2009, 1.5 million workers migrated from the new EU member states to the UK, two-thirds of them Polish, but that many subsequently returned home, resulting in a net increase in the number of nationals of the new member states in the UK of some 700,000 over that period.
[371][372] The
late-2000s recession in the UK reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK,
[373] the migration becoming temporary and circular.
[374] In 2009, for the first time since enlargement, more nationals of the eight central and eastern European states that had joined the EU in 2004 left the UK than arrived.
[375] In 2011, citizens of the new EU member states made up 13% of the immigrants entering the country.
[363]
Estimated number of British citizens living overseas by country, 2006
The UK government has introduced a
points-based immigration system for immigration from outside the
European Economic Area to replace former schemes, including the Scottish Government's
Fresh Talent Initiative.
[376] In June 2010 the UK government introduced a temporary limit of 24,000 on immigration from outside the EU, aiming to discourage applications before a permanent cap was imposed in April 2011.
[377] The cap has caused tension within the coalition: business secretary
Vince Cable has argued that it is harming British businesses.
[378]
Emigration was an important feature of British society in the 19th century. Between 1815 and 1930 around 11.4 million people emigrated from Britain and 7.3 million from Ireland. Estimates show that by the end of the 20th century some 300 million people of British and Irish descent were permanently settled around the globe.
[379] Today, at least 5.5 million UK-born people live abroad,
[380][381][382] mainly in Australia, Spain, the United States and Canada.
[380][383]
Education
Education in the United Kingdom is a
devolved matter, with each country having a separate education system.
Whilst
education in England is the responsibility of the
Secretary of State for Education, the day-to-day administration and funding of state schools is the responsibility of
local authorities.
[384] Universally free of charge state education was introduced piecemeal between 1870 and 1944.
[385][386] Education is now mandatory from ages five to sixteen (15 if born in late July or August). In 2011, the
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) rated 13–14-year-old pupils in England and Wales 10th in the world for maths and 9th for science.
[387] The majority of children are educated in state-sector schools, a small proportion of which select on the grounds of academic ability. Two of the top ten performing schools in terms of
GCSE results in 2006 were state-run
grammar schools. Over half of students at the leading universities of Cambridge and Oxford had attended state schools.
[388] Despite a fall in actual numbers the proportion of children in England attending private schools has risen to over 7%.
[389] In 2010, more than 45% of places at the
University of Oxford and 40% at the
University of
Cambridge were taken by students from private schools, even though they educate just 7% of the population.
[390] England has the two oldest universities in English-speaking world, Universities of
Oxford and
Cambridge (jointly known as "
Oxbridge") with history of over eight centuries. The United Kingdom has 9 universities featured in the Times Higher Education top 100 rankings, making it second to the United States in terms of representation.
[391]
Education in Scotland is the responsibility of the
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, with day-to-day administration and funding of state schools the responsibility of Local Authorities. Two
non-departmental public bodies have key roles in Scottish education. The
Scottish Qualifications Authority is responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications other than degrees which are delivered at secondary schools,
post-secondary colleges of
further education and other centres.
[393] The
Learning and Teaching Scotland provides advice, resources and staff development to education professionals.
[394] Scotland first legislated for compulsory education in 1496.
[395] The proportion of children in Scotland attending private schools is just over 4%, and it has been rising slowly in recent years.
[396] Scottish students who attend
Scottish universities pay neither
tuition fees nor graduate endowment charges, as fees were abolished in 2001 and the graduate endowment scheme was abolished in 2008.
[397]
The
Welsh Government has responsibility for
education in Wales. A significant number of Welsh students are taught either wholly or largely in the
Welsh language; lessons in Welsh are compulsory for all until the age of 16.
[398] There are plans to increase the provision of Welsh-medium schools as part of the policy of creating a fully bilingual Wales.
Education in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the
Minister of Education and the
Minister for Employment and Learning, although responsibility at a local level is administered by five education and library boards covering different geographical areas. The
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is the body responsible for advising the
government on what should be taught in Northern Ireland's schools, monitoring standards and awarding qualifications.
[399]
A
government commission's report in 2014 found that privately educated people comprise 7% of the general population of the UK but much larger percentages of the top professions, the most extreme case quoted being 71% of senior judges.
[400][401]
Healthcare
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a
devolved matter and each country has its own system of private and
publicly funded health care, together with
alternative, holistic and complementary treatments. Public healthcare is provided to all
UK permanent residents and is mostly free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. The
World Health Organization, in 2000, ranked the provision of healthcare in the United Kingdom as fifteenth best in Europe and eighteenth in the world.
[402][403]
Regulatory bodies are organised on a UK-wide basis such as the
General Medical Council, the
Nursing and Midwifery Council and non-governmental-based, such as the
Royal Colleges. However, political and operational responsibility for healthcare lies with four national
executives;
healthcare in England is the responsibility of the UK Government;
healthcare in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the
Northern Ireland Executive;
healthcare in Scotland is the responsibility of the
Scottish Government; and
healthcare in Wales is the responsibility of the
Welsh Assembly Government. Each
National Health Service has different policies and priorities, resulting in contrasts.
[404][405]
Since 1979 expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly to bring it closer to the European Union average.
[406] The UK spends around 8.4% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, which is 0.5 percentage points below the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average and about one percentage point below the average of the European Union.
[407]
Culture
The culture of the United Kingdom has been influenced by many factors including: the nation's island status; its
history as a western liberal democracy and a major power; as well as being a
political union of four countries with each preserving elements of distinctive traditions, customs and symbolism. As a result of the
British Empire, British influence can be observed in the
language,
culture and
legal systems of many of its former colonies including Australia, Canada,
India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. The substantial cultural influence of the United Kingdom has led it to be described as a "cultural superpower."
[408][409]
Literature
'British literature' refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, the
Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Most British literature is in the English language. In 2005, some 206,000 books were published in the United Kingdom and in 2006 it was the
largest publisher of books in the world.
[410]
The English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time,
[411][412][413] and his contemporaries
Christopher Marlowe and
Ben Jonson have also been held in continuous high esteem. More recently the playwrights
Alan Ayckbourn,
Harold Pinter,
Michael Frayn,
Tom Stoppard and
David Edgar have combined elements of surrealism, realism and radicalism.
Notable pre-modern and early-modern English writers include
Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century),
Thomas Malory (15th century),
Sir Thomas More (16th century),
John Bunyan (17th century) and
John Milton (17th century). In the 18th century
Daniel Defoe (author of
Robinson Crusoe) and
Samuel Richardson were pioneers of the
modern novel. In the 19th century there followed further innovation by
Jane Austen, the gothic novelist
Mary Shelley, the children's writer
Lewis Carroll, the
Brontë sisters, the social campaigner
Charles Dickens, the
naturalist Thomas Hardy, the
realist George Eliot, the visionary poet
William Blake and romantic poet
William Wordsworth. 20th century English writers include the science-fiction novelist
H. G. Wells; the writers of children's classics
Rudyard Kipling,
A. A. Milne (the creator of
Winnie-the-Pooh),
Roald Dahl and
Enid Blyton; the controversial
D. H. Lawrence; the
modernist Virginia Woolf; the satirist
Evelyn Waugh; the prophetic novelist
George Orwell; the popular novelists
W. Somerset Maugham and
Graham Greene; the crime writer
Agatha Christie (the
best-selling novelist of all time);
[414] Ian Fleming (the creator of
James Bond); the poets
T.S. Eliot,
Philip Larkin and
Ted Hughes; the
fantasy writers
J. R. R. Tolkien,
C. S. Lewis and
J. K. Rowling; the graphic novelist
Alan Moore.
Scotland's contributions include the detective writer
Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of
Sherlock Holmes), romantic literature by
Sir Walter Scott, the children's writer
J. M. Barrie, the epic adventures of
Robert Louis Stevenson and the celebrated poet
Robert Burns. More recently the modernist and nationalist
Hugh MacDiarmid and
Neil M. Gunn contributed to the
Scottish Renaissance. A more grim outlook is found in
Ian Rankin's stories and the psychological horror-comedy of
Iain Banks. Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, was UNESCO's first worldwide
City of Literature.
[415]
Britain's oldest known poem,
Y Gododdin, was composed in
Yr Hen Ogledd (
The Old North), most likely in the late 6th century. It was written in
Cumbric or
Old Welsh and contains the earliest known reference to
King Arthur.
[416] From around the seventh century, the connection between Wales and the Old North was lost, and the focus of Welsh-language culture shifted to Wales, where Arthurian legend was further developed by
Geoffrey of Monmouth.
[417] Wales's most celebrated medieval poet,
Dafydd ap Gwilym (
fl.1320–1370), composed poetry on themes including nature, religion and especially love. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest European poets of his age.
[418] Until the late 19th century the majority of
Welsh literature was in Welsh and much of the prose was religious in character.
Daniel Owen is credited as the first Welsh-language novelist, publishing
Rhys Lewis in 1885. The best-known of the
Anglo-Welsh poets are both Thomases.
Dylan Thomas became famous on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid-20th century. He is remembered for his poetry – his "
Do not go gentle into that good night; Rage, rage against the dying of the light." is one of the most quoted couplets of English language verse – and for his 'play for voices',
Under Milk Wood. The influential
Church in Wales 'poet-priest' and
Welsh nationalist R. S. Thomas was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Leading Welsh novelists of the twentieth century include
Richard Llewellyn and
Kate Roberts.
[419][420]
Authors of other nationalities, particularly from
Commonwealth countries, the Republic of Ireland and the United States, have lived and worked in the UK. Significant examples through the centuries include
Jonathan Swift,
Oscar Wilde,
Bram Stoker,
George Bernard Shaw,
Joseph Conrad,
T.S. Eliot,
Ezra Pound and more recently British authors born abroad such as
Kazuo Ishiguro and
Sir Salman Rushdie.
[421][422]
Music
Various styles of music are popular in the UK from the indigenous
folk music of
England,
Wales,
Scotland and
Northern Ireland to
heavy metal. Notable composers of classical music from the United Kingdom and the countries that preceded it include
William Byrd,
Henry Purcell,
Sir Edward Elgar,
Gustav Holst,
Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with the librettist
Sir W. S. Gilbert),
Ralph Vaughan Williams and
Benjamin Britten, pioneer of modern British opera.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the foremost living composers and current
Master of the Queen's Music. The UK is also home to world-renowned symphonic orchestras and choruses such as the
BBC Symphony Orchestra and the
London Symphony Chorus. Notable conductors include
Sir Simon Rattle,
John Barbirolli and
Sir Malcolm Sargent. Some of the notable
film score composers include
John Barry,
Clint Mansell,
Mike Oldfield,
John Powell,
Craig Armstrong,
David Arnold,
John Murphy,
Monty Norman and
Harry Gregson-Williams.
George Frideric Handel, although born German, was a
naturalised British citizen[426] and some of his best works, such as
Messiah, were written in the English language.
[427] Andrew Lloyd Webber has achieved enormous worldwide commercial success and is a prolific composer of musical theatre, works which have dominated London's
West End for a number of years and have travelled to Broadway in New York.
[428]
The Beatles have international sales of over one billion units and are the
biggest-selling and most influential band in the history of popular music.
[423][424][425][429] Other prominent British contributors to have influenced popular music over the last 50 years include;
The Rolling Stones,
Led Zeppelin,
Pink Floyd,
Queen, the
Bee Gees, and
Elton John, all of whom have world wide record sales of 200 million or more.
[430][431][432][433][434][435] The
Brit Awards are the
BPI's annual music awards, and some of the British recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to Music award include;
The Who,
David Bowie,
Eric Clapton,
Rod Stewart and
The Police.
[436] More recent UK music acts that have had international success include
Coldplay,
Radiohead,
Oasis,
Spice Girls,
Robbie Williams,
Amy Winehouse and
Adele.
[437]
A number of UK cities are known for their music. Acts from
Liverpool have had more UK chart number one hit singles per capita (54) than any other city worldwide.
[438] Glasgow's contribution to music was recognised in 2008 when it was named a
UNESCO City of Music, one of only three cities in the world to have this honour.
[439]
Visual art
The history of British visual art forms part of
western art history. Major British artists include: the
Romantics William Blake,
John Constable,
Samuel Palmer and
J.M.W. Turner; the
portrait painters
Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Lucian Freud; the landscape artists
Thomas Gainsborough and
L. S. Lowry; the pioneer of the
Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris; the figurative painter
Francis Bacon; the
Pop artists Peter Blake,
Richard Hamilton and
David Hockney; the collaborative duo
Gilbert and George; the
abstract artist
Howard Hodgkin; and the
sculptors Antony Gormley,
Anish Kapoor and
Henry Moore. During the late 1980s and 1990s the
Saatchi Gallery in London helped to bring to public attention a group of multi-genre artists who would become known as the "
Young British Artists":
Damien Hirst,
Chris Ofili,
Rachel Whiteread,
Tracey Emin,
Mark Wallinger,
Steve McQueen,
Sam Taylor-Wood and the
Chapman Brothers are among the better-known members of this loosely affiliated movement.
The
Royal Academy in London is a key organisation for the promotion of the visual arts in the United Kingdom. Major schools of art in the UK include: the six-school
University of the Arts London, which includes the
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and
Chelsea College of Art and Design;
Goldsmiths, University of London; the
Slade School of Fine Art (part of
University College London); the
Glasgow School of Art; the
Royal College of Art; and
The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art (part of the University of Oxford). The
Courtauld Institute of Art is a leading centre for the teaching of the
history of art. Important art galleries in the United Kingdom include the
National Gallery,
National Portrait Gallery,
Tate Britain and
Tate Modern (the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year).
[440]
Cinema
The United Kingdom has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema. The British directors
Alfred Hitchcock, whose film
Vertigo is considered by some critics as the
best film of all time,
[441] and
David Lean are among the most critically acclaimed of all-time.
[442] Other important directors including
Charlie Chaplin,
[443] Michael Powell,
[444] Carol Reed[445] and
Ridley Scott.
[446] Many British actors have achieved international fame and critical success, including:
Julie Andrews,
[447] Richard Burton,
[448] Michael Caine,
[449] Charlie Chaplin,
[450] Sean Connery,
[451] Vivien Leigh,
[452] David Niven,
[453] Laurence Olivier,
[454] Peter Sellers,
[455] Kate Winslet,
[456] Anthony Hopkins,
[457] and
Daniel Day-Lewis.
[458] Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in the United Kingdom, including the two
highest-grossing film franchises (
Harry Potter and
James Bond).
[459] Ealing Studios has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world.
[460]
Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry has often been characterised by a debate about its identity and the level of American and European influence. British producers are active in
international co-productions and British actors, directors and crew feature regularly in American films. Many successful Hollywood films have been based on British people,
stories or events, including
Titanic,
The Lord of the Rings,
Pirates of the Caribbean.
In 2009, British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of around 7% globally and 17% in the United Kingdom.
[461] UK box-office takings totalled £944 million in 2009, with around 173 million admissions.
[461] The
British Film Institute has produced a poll ranking of what it considers to be the 100 greatest British films of all time, the
BFI Top 100 British films.
[462] The annual
British Academy Film Awards are hosted by the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
[463]
Media
The
BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world.
[464][465][466] It operates numerous television and radio stations in the UK and abroad and its domestic services are funded by the
television licence.
[467][468] Other major players in the UK media include
ITV plc, which operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the
ITV Network,
[469] and
News Corporation, which owns a number of national newspapers through
News International such as the most popular
tabloid The Sun and the longest-established daily "
broadsheet"
The Times,
[470] as well as holding a large stake in satellite broadcaster
British Sky Broadcasting.
[471] London dominates the media sector in the UK: national newspapers and television and radio are largely based there, although Manchester is also a significant national media centre. Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Cardiff, are important centres of newspaper and broadcasting production in Scotland and Wales respectively.
[472] The UK publishing sector, including books, directories and databases, journals, magazines and business media, newspapers and news agencies, has a combined turnover of around £20 billion and employs around 167,000 people.
[473]
In 2009, it was estimated that individuals viewed a mean of 3.75 hours of television per day and 2.81 hours of radio. In that year the main BBC
public service broadcasting channels accounted for an estimated 28.4% of all television viewing; the three main independent channels accounted for 29.5% and the increasingly important other satellite and digital channels for the remaining 42.1%.
[474] Sales of newspapers have fallen since the 1970s and in 2009 42% of people reported reading a daily national newspaper.
[475] In 2010 82.5% of the UK population were Internet users, the highest proportion amongst the 20 countries with the largest total number of users in that year.
[476]
Philosophy
The United Kingdom is famous for the tradition of 'British Empiricism', a branch of the philosophy of knowledge that states that only knowledge verified by experience is valid, and 'Scottish Philosophy', sometimes referred to as the '
Scottish School of Common Sense'.
[477] The most famous philosophers of British Empiricism are
John Locke,
George Berkeley and
David Hume; while
Dugald Stewart,
Thomas Reid and
William Hamilton were major exponents of the Scottish "common sense" school. Two Britons are also notable for a theory of moral philosophy
utilitarianism, first used by
Jeremy Bentham and later by
John Stuart Mill in his short work
Utilitarianism.
[478][479]
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